Lebanese farmers dig for answers on Israel's white phosphorus use
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[July 03, 2024]
By Maya Gebeily
Qlayaa, LEBANON (Reuters) - The last time Lebanese farmer Zakaria Farah
stepped onto his fields outside the southern town of Qlayaa was in
January - but it was not to plant. With shelling in the distance, he
swiftly dug his hands into the soil to gather samples that could
determine his family's farming future.
After bagging up the earth, Farah, 30, sent half-a-dozen samples to a
laboratory at the American University of Beirut (AUB) to be tested for
residues of white phosphorus from Israeli shelling, hoping he'd learn
whether he can plant his fields once hostilities end.
"I want to know what I'm feeding my son, what I'm feeding my wife, what
I'm eating," he told Reuters in June. "We're afraid for the future of
our land. What can we eat? What can we drink?"
Farah told Reuters he fears his fields have been poisoned by the Israeli
military's use of white phosphorus since October, when exchanges of fire
erupted between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in parallel
with the Gaza war. He said there are dozens of farmers in south Lebanon
as worried as he is.
According to the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research,
there have been 175 Israeli attacks on south Lebanon using white
phosphorus since then, many of them sparking fires that have affected
over 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of farmland.
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White phosphorus munitions are not banned as a chemical weapon and can
be used in war to make smoke screens, mark targets or burn buildings -
but since they can cause serious burns and start fires, international
conventions prohibit their use against military targets located among
civilians.
Lebanon is a party to those international protocols, while Israel is
not.
In June, Human Rights Watch said it had verified the use of white
phosphorus in at least 17 municipalities in southern Lebanon since
October, including five "where airburst munitions were unlawfully used
over populated residential areas."
In response to questions from Reuters, the Israeli military said the
"primary smoke shells" it used do not contain white phosphorus. It said
smoke shells that do include white phosphorus can be used to create
smokescreens, and that it "uses only lawful means of warfare."
According to a December report on Lebanon by the U.N. Development
Programme, white phosphorus is extremely poisonous and poses "ongoing
and unpredictable hazards due to its prolonged and difficult-to-control
burning, creating serious risks to human health, safety, and the
environment."
The agency said that soil quality in the conflict area of southern
Lebanon had been affected by the spread of heavy metals and toxic
compounds, with "white phosphorus usage further reducing fertility and
increasing soil acidity."
SOIL SCIENCE
Farah and other farmers estimate they have already lost up to $7,000
each in potential income, as continuing bombardment has made it too
risky for them to plant or harvest the usual seasons of wheat, tobacco,
lentils and other greens.
Oday Abou Sari, a farmer from the southern town of Dhayra, said white
phosphorus had also burned hay he had gathered for livestock and even
plastic irrigation pipes across his fields.
"I have to start all over - but first, I need to know if it's safe for
planting," said Abou Sari.
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![](../images/070324PIX/news_y56.jpg)
Lebanese farmer Zakaria Farah, sits on his land during an interview
with Reuters in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon June 12, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz
Taher
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To find out if the white phosphorus has left a lasting impact on
their soil, farmers are digging in - literally - and sending samples
to Dr. Rami Zurayk, a soil chemist at AUB.
Zurayk developed a research protocol to collect and examine the
samples. First, soil is gathered at various distances from the
impact site, including a control sample from 500 meters away - which
would not have been directly affected by the strike.
Once in his lab, the soil is sifted, mixed with acid and exposed to
high heat and pressure. A solution is added to show the
concentration of phosphorus, with the intensity of colour in the
result matching the concentration of the phosphorus. The sample is
then compared to the control, which sets the benchmark of
naturally-occurring phosphorus in the soil.
"What we're looking for is what happens to the soils and to the
plants in locations that have received white phosphorus bombing.
Does the phosphorus remain? In what concentrations? Does it
disappear?" Zurayk told Reuters.
His assistant, doctoral student Leen Dirani, told Reuters she had
thus far tested samples from four towns this way - but they need
more samples to "obtain a conclusive outcome."
But the steady pace of Israeli shelling on southern Lebanon -
particularly agricultural fields that Hezbollah fighters are accused
of using as cover - has made farmers unwilling to venture out to
gather more samples. Some, like Abou Sari, have left Lebanon
altogether. He is waiting out the war abroad and so for now is
unable to obtain soil samples.
Others are documenting through video footage. Green Southerners, a
collective of ecologists and nature lovers in Lebanon's south, have
filmed several incidents of shelling showing the tell-tale signs of
white phosphorous attacks: dozens of streams of white bursting out
of a munition over farmlands.
The group's chairman Hisham Younes told Reuters the attacks'
"frightening density" amounts to ecocide - mass destruction of a
natural environment by humans, deliberately or by negligence.
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Given the possible impacts on soil, water reserves and even ancient
trees, "we are talking about a profound injury to the natural
system. The repercussions are multiplied," Younes said.
Lebanon's ministries of environment and agriculture are working with
UNDP to determine the extent of those repercussions, and hope to use
any documentation or lab results to stand up complaints to the
United Nations.
"This is an act of ecocide, and we'll take it to the U.N. Security
Council," Lebanese environment minister Nasser Yassin told Reuters.
In response to questions from Reuters, the Israeli military said the
accusation of ecocide was "completely baseless."
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily, Editing by William Maclean)
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